After days of intense scrutiny, the company said on Sunday that it would add content advisories on episodes of the show to combat misinformation on its platform. Daniel Ek said in a news release that recent feedback made it clear that the company needed to do more to provide balance and access to scientific and medical information related to the Pandemic. Content advisories will be rolled out in the coming days for episodes that mention covid-19, Ek said. Current information from trusted sources will be included in the hub, as well as data-driven facts. The CEO said that the company would begin testing out ways to highlight the policies on acceptable content on its platform to help creators understand their accountability for the content they post. I trust our policies, the research and expertise that inform their development, and our aspiration to apply them in a way that allows for broad debate and discussion, Ek said. We are committed to learning, growing and evolving and that doesn't mean that we always get it right. After two tumultuous weeks in which it saw the departure of music legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell over covid-19 misinformation on the platform, and lost $2 billion in market value, Ek's announcement capped off. Many users took to social media to say they were canceling their subscriptions to support the musicians.
The elephant in the room that put the spotlight on its misinformation policies in the first place was not mentioned in the announcement. It said it didn't want to be a content censor.
Ek said that they have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of their users.
In December, Rogan interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, who was banned from the social network for spreading misinformation. According to the interview, people were being hypnotized into believing in the efficacy of vaccines and hospitals had a financial incentive to classify deaths as being caused by covid-19. A group of 270 scientists, health care professionals, and educators wrote an open letter to Spotify asking it to establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation. They didn't ask the platform to remove Rogan's show.
On Sunday, Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist who signed the open letter, shared the announcement on the platform.
This is what we asked for. Not censoring. Not deplatforming. Not canceling. Not silenced, Rivera wrote.
There isn't much to look at yet with the implementation of the new measures. I checked out the hub on Sunday, but I wouldn't necessarily classify the information as comprehensive or accessible. There were links to a couple of podcasts on covid-19, as well as a link to the World Health Organization page on the coronaviruses.
Launching the hub is a good move, but it's probably still under construction, so users who have just listened to misinformation on a podcasts have to go and listen to another one. I wouldn't call it effective.
There was no content advisory on the episode of The Joe Rogan Experience featuring Malone as of Sunday. It is not clear whether the episodes will be labeled as containing misinformation or if they will simply say that they contain information on covid-19. There is a big difference.
Gizmodo reached out to Spotify on Sunday to inquire about the content advisories but did not receive a response by the time of publication. If we hear back, we will update this article.
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